Urgent Live Search Problem

G

Guest

Hello everyone!

For 4 days now I have been trying to get help to restore the Live Search
thumbnail results on the right side of my screen.

My operating system is Windows 2000 Professional SP4. I run Internet
Explorer 6 SP1. I cannot upgrade to XP or Vista due to my employers'
constraints (some of their applications will not run in either).

I am handicapped. I use Internet Explorer searches (which now invoke the
Live Search engine) to do research for which I get paid. It is my main source
of income. Unfortunately, recent Microsoft updates have eliminated the
thumbnail views of web sites that used to appear to the right of the window
after a search (using Live Search). Now the right side of the screen is a
total and complete blank. This was either by design or by mistake on
Microsoft's part.

Due to my handicap, I cannot "hover" over the individual search results web
site names on the left of the screen to look at what they offer. My hand
moves involuntarily too much and I lose the place.

I have tried other search engines, to see if they showed the thumbnails.
None do. I do not search from the address line. I open the search assistant
to write in my searches (due to those involuntary movements of my hand).

It is apparent that I do not have viruses or other malaware on my computer.
I have done many lengthy scans using every type of software I could find and
they are all negative.

Anyone has any ideas? Microsoft is trying to find out what has happened, and
my case has been elevated to their senior engineers. They have remotely set
me back(using remote control access to my computer) to IE5 and still no
thumbnails. On the bottom of the screen "show preview (right)" is selected on
Live Search.

I am certain it was a Microsoft update because I had the thumbnails
immediately before installing them (that's how I connected to the Microsoft
download web page), and the thumbnails were gone 2 minutes after the updates
-- following a required re-boot.

Anyone has experienced the same problem or has any suggestions? I work with
one hand and cannot do very technical stuff, but the Microsoft engineers will
certainly understand any suggestions.

Thanks for the help and attention!
 
R

Rob ^_^

Hi Again,

Still no luck?
What happens when you use the View>Souce menu.
If you see more that <html></html> (ie a full page of html code) then the
related IE settings are
Tools>Internet Options - General tab - Accessibility button (Check ignore
font sizes and ignore font styles) and Colors button (uncheck Use Windows
Colors and choose a high contrast color scheme (yellow on black)
Advanced tab - Multimedia section - Show pictures.

What about your desktop theme settings - Are you using a High Contrast Theme
with enlarged fonts?

Try a custom theme instead of the pre-defined High Contrast Theme.

(Desktop Theme settings - Right click on the desktop and select Properties)

There have been issues with High Contrast Desktop Themes and Internet
Explorer Version 7 but you are using IE6?... Have installed and then
uninstalled IE7 previously?

Hopefully someone will have more to add to my suggestions. I kinda think
that this is related to your Desktop High Contrast Theme settings.

Regards.
 
G

Guest

Hi Rob:

This is what I see when I open "View, Source" on the open black search
result pane:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html;
charset=windows-1252"></HEAD>
<BODY></BODY></HTML>

I will next try to do the rest of your posting's suggestions. I do know for
sure that the "allow pictures" is checked on the "Advanced" tab, because the
Microsoft fellow verified it previously. However, I have never done anything
with the "Accessibility" tab and don't know its settings.

Thanks a million.
 
G

Guest

Rob:

Oops... forgot to tell you I have never installed IE7. It cannot be
installed on Windows 2000 Pro due to incompatibilities.

Thanks again.
 
R

Rob ^_^

Hi,

The View-Source results show the page is not being loaded...
You can forget about the other settings (Accessibility, Colors, desktop
theme) I asked you to check. There have been changes to the Live Search as
it is being re-branded from MSN to Live, it may be that something recent has
caused this. Unfortunately I currently do not have access to my win2k
machine to work out what is going on.

I am posting your thread on to a private newsgroup that is seen by Microsoft
Full Time employees and MSMVP's. Hopefully someone there will take up your
cause and will be able to find a workaround for you quickly.

Regards.
 
G

Guest

Hi Rob:

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope someone, somewhere, can offer an
alternative to hovering over search results to see the web site contents. I
simply cannot do that with my handicap. A friend suggested that I use the
Address line to use Live Search, but most of the times I cannot hit that line
easily.

No doubt the good folks at Microsoft believed that the functionality was
useless to everyone and just dumped it. There may be an alternative they can
offer. At least, I hope so.

Again, thanks, and let me know what you learn.
 
P

PA Bear

MOL, please don't begin any more new threads about this problem. Doing so
will only serve to confuse the issues at hand. Please post any/all replies
to your original thread. Thanks.
 
G

Guest

Sorry PA Bear! Another posting told me that I should mark this as a Live
Search problem. That's why I opened a "new" thread. I promise not to do it
again!

Thanks for your help and forgive my errors, please!
 
R

Rob ^_^

Hi MOL,

Can you copy and paste the contents of the Address bar from Internet
Explorer back here.
Follow these steps.
1. Open the IE6 Side Search Bar (Ctrl+E)
2.Enter your search terms and click the search button, ensuring that "Show
Search Preview(right)" is checked.
In your case you should then see a blank screen on the right hand side.
3.Select the internet address that is displayed in the Address Bar of
Internet Explorer for this blank page.
4.Either use Ctrl+ins or right click on the Address bar and select copy from
the context menu to copy the address to the clipboard.

5. Paste that address back into you message on this forum for us to inspect.

Another question -

What default language have you selected for Internet Explorer?
Tools>Internet Options - General tab, Language Button. en-us should be at
the top of your list. If it isn't, post back with what your language
settings are.

Regards.
 
N

N. Miller

Hello everyone!

For 4 days now I have been trying to get help to restore the Live Search
thumbnail results on the right side of my screen.
Click to expand...

Is this of any help?

| http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/help.aspx?t=SEARCH_PROC_DisplayThumbnailswithIE.htm

I can't test it in MS Internet Explorer 6 at the moment. The only computer,
here, with MSIE6 is an old HP Pavilion with Windows ME; and it just got very
balky, requiring a power cycle (wouldn't shut down cleanly).

--
Norman
~Shine, bright morning light,
~now in the air the spring is coming.
~Sweet, blowing wind,
~singing down the hills and valleys.
 
G

Guest

Hi!

There is one problem with the instructions you sent... When I open
"Customize" I no longer see MSN Search. Instead of MSN Search, there is Live
Search. Apparently MSN Search has gone away. That's probably what happened
when I did the Microsoft updates.

Have Microsoft done away with MSN Search?
 
N

N. Miller

N. Miller wrote:
Click to expand...
Norman, for once I think you've come up with a winner.
Click to expand...

Only once? You have cut me to the quick!

--
Norman
~Shine, bright morning light,
~now in the air the spring is coming.
~Sweet, blowing wind,
~singing down the hills and valleys.
 
N

N. Miller

"N. Miller" wrote:
Click to expand...
There is one problem with the instructions you sent... When I open
"Customize" I no longer see MSN Search. Instead of MSN Search, there is Live
Search. Apparently MSN Search has gone away. That's probably what happened
when I did the Microsoft updates.
Click to expand...

As I stated, I had no way to test it at that time. I still have to head out
to the garage to try it on the Windows ME machine.
Have Microsoft done away with MSN Search?
Click to expand...

And, eventually, MSN Hotmail, as well. Everything is going "Live".

--
Norman
~Shine, bright morning light,
~now in the air the spring is coming.
~Sweet, blowing wind,
~singing down the hills and valleys.
 
F

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM

Miami Old Lady said:
Hi!

There is one problem with the instructions you sent... When I open
"Customize" I no longer see MSN Search. Instead of MSN Search, there is
Live
Search. Apparently MSN Search has gone away. That's probably what happened
when I did the Microsoft updates.

Have Microsoft done away with MSN Search?
Click to expand...


Basically, the changed the name and added some "improvements".
 

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